Monday, November 13

Today is Monday. Week 12 is now over... and Week 13 has begun. You have this week, then Week 14, and Dead Week, and that's all: the semester has gone so fast! Visit the Class Calendar for more information, where you will see that there is a whole week off for Thanksgiving in this class. Week 13 begins today, and it will end on the Sunday after Thanksgiving, November 26.

Class Procedures and Reminders

Thanksgiving break. Today is the first day of Week 13, and you have your regular reading/story assignments on Tues-Wed-Thurs this week (November 14-15-16). Then, you have a week off for Thanksgiving. You can choose to do the end-of-week assignments for Week 13 before Thanksgiving, or you can do those the weekend after Thanksgiving, based on whatever schedule works best for you.

My schedule. I will be at work per usual this week through Thursday. Then, I will take my Thanksgiving break, and I will be back at work on the Friday after Thanksgiving (November 24) in order to get caught up with any projects that people turn in over the break. I know a lot of you are probably going to want to finish the class during the Thanksgiving break, and I will do my best to keep up with you! For more information about finishing the class, see the Progress Chart.

Project Stack. As usual, the stack is huge on Monday, and I'll be replying to the assignments in the order they were turned in. While you are waiting on comments back from me about your Project assignment, you can check the stack to make sure I received your email.

Extra Credit. The Backup/Review extra credit option helps you check your Canvas points, which is definitely a good idea, especially if you are making your plan for finishing the class. Find out more in the extra credit section of this week's assignments.

The following items are for fun and exploration:

Class Twitter. From yesterday's Twitter @OnlineMythIndia, here is something from OU Biology professor Mike Kaspari: it's art at the Nebraska state capitol building, with a Navajo prayer: In beauty I walk With beauty before me I walk / With beauty behind me I walk / With beauty above and about me I walk.

Reading. In this graphic, reading is a metaphor for life itself: Everything I need to know, I learned from a book. You might want to ponder that as you get started on the reading for this week!

Storybook Archive. This project is from the Myth-Folklore class: Alexander the Great, Reborn. Alexander the Great lamented that he had only one world to conquer... but imagine Alexander in outer space, with one planet after another that can be his. This Storybook tells the adventures of Xander Mace, a character strangely reminiscent of the ancient Alexander.

Free Book Online: Today's free book is Brendaniana: St. Brendan the Voyager in Story and Legend edited by Denis O'Donoghue. See the Freebookapalooza blog for links and the table of contents, and you can find out more about Saint Brendan the Navigator at Wikipedia.

Story of the Day. Today's story is from the Buddhist Jataka tales of India: The Crab and the Crane. A deceitful crane manages to fool the fish into putting their trust in the crane's help; the crab is not so easily fooled.

Today's Video: Since this is another British week in the Myth-Folklore class, I wanted to share this wonderful audio sample of Shakespearean Star Wars by Ian Doescher. I am such a fan of all four of his Star Wars audiobooks; highly recommended!

Growth Mindset: Today's growth mindset cat is in search of success: Success is not coming to you; you must come to it. You can find out more at the Growth Mindset blog.

Event on Campus: It's the first day of India Week with samosas in the Union 10AM-2PM (details). Find out more about this and other events at the Campus Calendar online.

November 13: Vine Deloria. Today, November 13, marks the death in 2005 of the Sioux Indian author and political activist Vine Deloria, Jr. (he was born in 1933). You can read more about Vine Deloria's life and career in this Wikipedia article. Deloria is most famous for his 1969 book Custer Died for Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto. To hear Vine Deloria himself, listen to this webcast from the Library of Congress from 2002, as part of the National Book Festival.

Check out the Twitter stream for information and fun stuff during the day, or click here for past announcements.